Outlet-box.



o. CARMAN. oU'T BBBBB X.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII PT. 28, 1908. V

' Patented Nov. 26, 1912.

'Inventor'z I Oscar Y'man; ,by

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' OSCAR CABIVIAN, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR T O GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY. A CORPOBATIQT OF YORK.

OUTLET-Roxi Specification of Lettrs'Patent.

Application filed September 28, 1908. Serial No. 455,139.

To all whom/Lt Imay concern: I

Be it known that I, OSCAR CARMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, county of Marion, State of Indiana, have invented certain new and usek' ful Improvements in Outlet-Boxes, of which box must be placed exactly level, that. is to say, with its axis perpendicular tol the floor or wall, in order to bring the fioor-plate into the plane of the floor. Inasmuh as it is often quite'diflicult to insure this accuracy of position, I have designed the present in- .vcntion to meet the predicament.

The invention consists in an outlet box of' the type referred to, having its floor-plate' secured to the bushing by a ball joint of special construction, so that said plate, can be adjusted not only longitudinally along the axis of the box but also obliquely thereto in any direction, and thus be brought flush with the floor or Wall irrespcctive of the position of the box, within reasonable limits.

v In the acconipanying drawing, Ifigure 1 is a top plan view of my improved outlet box, with the floor-platc removed, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal .section of the. entire box.

The body 1 is cylindrical and has suitable screw-threaded openings for the ends of conduits 2. Its upper portion has internal screw-threads 3 meshing With external screw-threads on the ring of bushing 4, so thatthe latter can be vertically adjusted .by screw-'ing it up or down. The bushing has an inward flange 5 at its upper end, said' flange being preferably concave.

The floor-plate 6 has a central opening. screw-threaded to receive the lower end of 'the nozzle 7 which is provided with an insufioor-plate is fastened by screws 9 to the horizontal flange 10 of an annular levelirigplate 11, which rests upon the flange 5 of the bushing, with a gasket 12 of rubber or leather between them. As the flange and the leveling-plate are segments of hemi-spheres, they form a ball joint which permits the fioor-plate to be rocked in any direction so that it will be 'oblique to the axis of the box. The parts can be fastened in any position by mean of a retaining ring 13 laid upon' the leveling-plate and carrying clamping screws 14 which pass through holes in the flange 5 of the bushing into nuts 15 bcneath said flange. The ring and the flange are prefera bly provided with inwardly extending lugs 16to receive said screws; while' the nuts are preferably provided with fingers 17 which are bent over the edge of the 'flange 5 to prevent said nuts from rotating. vThe'ends of the. screws .are preferably slightlyupsetl so that they cannot be entirely withdnawn, but only backed ofi suiliciently to loosen the leveling-plate for adjustment.

' In operation, the floor-plateis detached to give access to the clamping screws during the process of adjusting the leveling-plate in bthe rabbet cut in the fiooring; towhich it is fastened by screws through. the holes 18, after which the screws .14 are tightened up and the floor-plate replaced. 1

WVhat I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is,-

1. An outlet box having a concaved flange at its upper end, a convex leveling plate of sheet metal adapted to fit said flange and having a central aperture, a retaining ring adapted to fit said plate, and screws connecting said ring and fiange and dispose'd within OSCAR CARMAN Witnesses:

J Arms T. CoREY, I. B. HATFLELD.

V Coptes of this patent may be obtained for flve cents eacli, by addressing the Commissioner-of Patents,

Washington, I). C. 

